Less powerful air bags automakers began installing 5-yrs ago have decreased serious, air bag-related injuries and deaths w/o compromising safety

1st preliminary results of a study by automakers and safety experts released

Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers says data so far validate automakers' decision to install less powerful air bags

Group of 13 auto and safety experts from industry, universities and gov'mt is overseeing 3-yr, $5M air bag study

Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is paying for the study, which began in 2002

Alliance says short women and children far less likely to suffer serious injury or death due to head, neck or chest injuries w/ air bag installed in 1998 or later

Short women and children had been most at risk w/ older air bags

Researchers are seeing more injuries to lower extremities, including legs and feet

Those injuries also are more severe than injuries seen before 1998

Researchers aren't sure if that is due to air bags or vehicle design changes

Trade-off is worth it, since people rarely die of a broken leg or ankle, says Alliance

"You rarely die of a broken leg or a broken ankle. As with anything and everything in regulation and engineering, it's a trade-off. This is a trade-off that, literally, we can live with." -- Robert Strassburger, VP of Washington-based Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers